Back into Cumbria for the scaly things

The Safari picked up CR and we headed north up  the motorway to our favourite private nature reserve. The clouds looked ominously full of rain as they had been for the last week or so but we needn't have worried because as we turned westwards the weather improved into what was to become a rather pleasant day. This was good as our main target for the day were reptiles. 

Once on site we wandered down to the stream past the 'Adder' wall. "Look how overgrown it's got since our last visit, we're not going to see much in that!" said CR. But only a few steps through the gate our beady eyes spotted something that looked out of place and  sure enough there was the first Adder of the day basking in the weak sunshine on top of a moss covered hummock. Tricky to get pics of through the intervening overgrown vegetation but there it sat for several minutes looking very gravid. We had a white t-shirt on and it probably saw us move when we went another pace or two down the track to see if we could get a better shot. It slithered away into a hole in the bank.

We'd not got far over the bridge when JG from the Southside Gang appeared. They'd arrived at last and it was great to see them all again. But we could only regale tales of the Adder as it hadn't reappeared - they'd dipped and it was all our fault!!!

Together we set off along the rickety boardwalk and across the moss. It was deadly quiet, not quite warm enough for invertebrates or reptiles yet. At this time of year although the woods are full of birds they keep very much hidden as they moult prior to migration or getting ready for the winter. We hoped for a Cuckoo to show but had to 'make do' with a Buzzard. A Black Darter rose up from the bog by the track as we passed and settled in a nearby dead tree making for a rather arty pic.

Over the second bridge we scanned through the woodland edge for any deer that might be lurking but our searches were fruitless. It wasn't until we got to the stream that we heard any birdlife at all, a Sedge Warbler gave the briefest snatch of song to reveal its presence in the bankside rushes. An Osprey called a it flew over too. Continuing round and onto the next boggy area another dragonfly was found. At the time identified as a teneral Common Darter but back home later that evening CR was sorting through the days images and dicovered it was in fact a female Keeled Skimmer, a new species for all of us. Top detective work from CR.

The track became, shall we say "more interesting", as we neared the stream and a section of boardwalk adjacent the stream further on was only 'passable with care' both sections gave extreme risk of very wet and muddy boots, thankfully we all survived a ragained terra firma at the bridge. Calamity avoided it was now full steam ahead back to the car park and the butties/pies. Passing the wall again we saw the Adder had reappeared and everyone was able to get a good look at her.

Once again she slithered into the undergrowth and was gone. It was then that we saw something shiny a few feet away, looking closely wit hthe bins revealed it to be a piece of shed Adder skin. JG cajoaled/coerced us to go a few steps off piece to grab a abit for her collection...ever one to oblige...if you look closely you can make out some of the scales.

Moments later a Golden-ringed Dragonfly landed really close by. These are impressive beasts that deserve to be photographed from all angles!

Once again it was only looking through images back at Base Camp later that we saw it was tucking into some lunch. It was chowing down on what looks like an Ichneumon Wasp.

Our attention was dragged away from this beast when one of its lesser cousins, a Common Darter, landed on the fence by our shoulder.

We think they're like Bottlenose Dolphins - no matter what they're thinking they always look like they're smiling. Walking back through the reserve yard we took the opportunity to get some pics of the House Martins nesting in the eaves of the Warden's house for our Photo Challenge. The adults were back and forth far to quickly for us but ever eager to be fed nestlings regularly appeared at the opening, obviously trying to see if their next meal was about to be delivered - #143

More Ospreys appeared while we were having lunch but we failed spectacularly to get any pics. Then CR spotted a Red Deer hind come out of the small patch of trees below us, followed by a second and two youngsters. We failed to connect camera and 'Bambis' so here's one of the adults.

Not quite as close as last weeks shots of this species.

After lunch it was time to climb the 'hill of doom' but we hadn't even got to the car park to divest ourself of all the luncheon paraphernalia when one of the team spotted this Slow Worm basking at the base of the wall. A good find, although they are numerous here we don't often see them.

Slightly behind us to our left is a large Howeed plant in full flower and now in the sun. It was timing with insects. Mostly they were Drone Flies, Eristalis sp but we also saw one of the big Bog Hoverflies that did a bunk before any of us could lay a camera on it and this small, but even more gorgeous, Leucozona glauca having a wash and brush up.

Wildlife interlude over we had to climb that hill. To be fair it's never quite as bad a feared, it's just the thought of starting up it straight after a hearty lunch...Not much to be seen along the track although with it warming up a bit with some sunshine butterflies were coming out to play, mostly in the form of Gatekeepers. Probably the most intersting thing we found was this anthill which had been dug by a Badger.

Our destination was the pond by the entrance gate but to get there we had to pass Little Grebe Alley, the large tarn on the side of the road. As ever several were on show but as usual all were on the far side of the sizeable tarn.

At the pond we immediately set about looking into the water to see what aquatic goodies we could find. Not a lot the view in was much obscured by reeds and Lily leaves now but above the surface there was a lot to see. An Emperor Dragonfly patrolled below us refusing to stay still enough long enough for the auto-focus to lock on. Also buzzing about were lots of damselflies including several Emerald Damselflies shimmering in the sunlight. Common Darters egg laying in tandem further out over the Lily pads completed the Odonata scene.

The area around the pond held much of interest too. A Dor Beetle stumbled and staggered along a grassy track

Their undersides are spectacularly blue, even better when you show an in focus pic of one that's not wriggling around trying to right itself - like the one we had but manage to accidentally wipe off off the SD card - - what a numpty!

A Common Darter was expertly rescued out of the wet grass holding it firmly to the ground by JG.

And then came the best action of the day and certainly the most bizarre. A tiny Common Lizard was seen at the base of a tree. Once it realised it had been seen it darted into cover. While waiting for it to come back into view all mannner of creatures started to climb the tree starting with a Grasshopper that had been jumping around in the grass by our feet.

This was followed by a tiny Common Toad. It was like an all-comers race to the top.

But the toad decided to have a snooze a metre or so into its climb.

 

Even a Harvestman joined in for a while but spent more time going round the trunk than upwards. After a while the lizard did reappear although there was some discussion as to whether or not it was the same individual as the earlier one was said to have had a brighter more colourful pattern.

It even looked as if it was going to join the tree climbing race.

Our final finds here were unusual. A Gatekeeper with a single white spot on its upperwings but sporting gtthe 'normal' double white spots below. Can't say we've ever noticed one like that before.

And the other was a cracking looking red and black Ichneumon Wasp, later found out to be one of the Dusona species.

And even later discovered to be either quite a scarce beastie or terribly under-recorded. There are only 169 records for this genus on the NBN Atlas of which none are in England north of a line between Lancaster and Scarborough and then only one confirmed and one unconfirmed record in the whole of Scotland - so a new dot on the map for Cumbria courtesy of the Safari and gang.
With time now pressing it was time to make our way back to the car park and say our goodbyes to the Southside gang. But not before another look at the Slow Worm and Adder...of which there were now two out basking a few feet apart.

Then right at the end of the day we got our Osprey shots...and there were two...just like the Adders.

Always a little high but hey beggars can't be choosers and what a brilliant end to a brilliant day, lots of fun, lots of laughs and lots of wildlife - top banana!

Where to next? We've got a bit of a boaty ride coming up next week - watch this space.

In the meantime let us know who's winning the Inter-species Tree Climbing Championships in your outback

We'll glossy over that one!

The Safari met up with JG at the private reserve in south Cumbria last week and had a great day which started somewhat umpromisingly with some heavy drizzle. We set off along the trail passing the 'Adder' wall' but no Adders today , the rain keeping them well down in their burrows, a nice male Redstart which did a little bit of singing described by J as 'like a wonky Chaffinch' and when it sang again we could hear why she would think that...great description!

The ditch was disappointingly devoid of any insects, or anything else for that matter and apart from a family of Tree Pipits the moss area was quiet too.

At the bridge there were no Beautiful Demoiselles to be seen and the trail became 'interesting' to say the least

If we weren't on the raised boardwalk that vegetation would look even taller! We completed the curcuit of the second moss area again seeing not a lot but at least the rain had stopped and it was trying to brighten up.

Back at 'Adder wall' there were still no Adders but on a dead stump a little further back J spotted athis pair of 4-Banded Longhorn Beetles.

A sleepy Comma was nearby showing its underwing and how it came by its name.

We'd also managed to get a half decent pic of some Sundew which we failed to do on our previous visit, better still it's in flower now.

By now it was getting towards lunchtime so we headed back to the butties and took up position on the visitor centre's patio overlooking the reserve and in particular the Osprey's nest. We'd only just gone through the gate when we noticed a stick in the middle of the path that wasn't there earlier...and then it moved - "Stop" we shouted to J, it was our first Grass Snake of the day but had seen us coming and was speeding towards cover

During our lunch break we enjoyed a small herd of four Red Deer grazing the woodland edge below us and watched the antics of the Ospreys, they have a chick and it looked like a male was bringing in a fish - how we missed a getting a pic of him carrying his 'torpedo' we don't know but we did. But it seems like this male was from a different nest as it was seen off by the resident birds and disappeared into the woods on the far side of the valley.

Ravens cronked and a Sparrowhawk soared but Buzzards were notably absent and that meant there was no sign of the local Honey Buzzards either.

The weather was brightening up nicely now so we had another look for the Adders - again without success but we did find a Grass Snake very much hidden from view in the long grass beyond the wall that gave just about the worst views of Grass Snake, or even any snake anywhere in the world, we've ever had so with the sun coming out we decided to go and have a look at the pond. it maybe wasn't quite as lively as we'd hoped but there was plenty to keep us occupied like these Black-and-Yellow Longhorn Beetles.

Most of the blue damselflies we could see closely enough to identify turned out to be Azure Damselflies and there were still a good number of Large Red Damselflies on the wing. Last time out the Common Darters hadn't emerged but today there were several patrolling the pond and basking around its edges when the sun broke through.

A Golden Ringed Dragonfly kept doing circuits of the wooded island in the middle of the pond and eventually sat up on a reed

There were also at least a couple of Black Darters over the water (and we'd seen one earlier on the moss) and we saw another dragonfly briefly that we're fairly certain was a Downy Emerald but it disappeared round the back of the island and we never saw it again.

Having spent an hour at the pond we headed back towards the visitor centre for yet another look for the Adders. We passed a basking Small Tortoiseshell but there were no Grass Snakes out on this stretch of wall

It flew off and went over the gate beating us to the Adder zone where it sat up on a leaf for another bask, shame the Adders didn't feel like basking out in the open too!

We took another wander across the moss where by now there were Common Lizards aplenty getting their share of the sunshine and soaking up warmth absorbed by the dark timbers of the boardwalk.

Another visiting naturalist told us he'd seen several Adders earlier - that would have been while we were having lunch probably) but by now there were very warm and very active so much less likely to be spotted.

With time no longer on our side we headed back towards the visitor centre when J called out "snake", she'd disturbed on the wall by the warden's house. It had disappeared into a gap in the stonework so we sat on the low garden wall opposite and waited. Sure enough after a few minutes a little face appeared.

We were able to cautiously move round to get a bit better light on it from a better angle and a little bit closer too.

And that ended our visit - or so we thought. As J rounded the corner to the car park she called "snake" again! Another Grass Snake. It saw us and tried to sneak off and that was when we realised it was going nowhere and stretching itself out so much and was actually stuck fast in the crack in the path.

Without further ado we gently teased it to the right where the crack was a little wider and after a couple of minutes it was free and shot off to the left and the dark corner it was trying to reach when we rudely sprang out upon it. We suppose we could have lifted it up once it was free and got the 'selfie' but with all the struggling and hissing it had been doing it was obviously very stressed and probably would have played and  'stunk' us and that's not what we wanted two minutes before getting in the car so we left it find somewhere dark and quiet to chill out.

Yet another great day at this great reserve, can't wait to get back there.

A warm evening found us walking on the beach with Wifey and Monty when we spotted several jellyfish. Looking around we came across a couple of Blue Jellyfish, a species we've not seen before despite many years of regular beachcombing all along this coast. It can give a sting like a bag full of  Nettles but you can't deny it's a beautiful thing.

There were several Lion's Mane Jellyfish too, now they will make you go OWWW if they sting you, apparently it can be very painful and they are best given a wide berth on the beach as the tentacles can be long and invisible on the sand.

Later in the week we were told of a small mammal trapping survey organised by the Royal Society of Biology, well we just had to book place.

We arrived and had a little walk around the site with Monty before meeting DW who took us to the first tranch of traps down by the saltmarsh which had caught several Wood Mice.

It's not a tick but something from the food or bedding placed in the trap

The second tranch had been placed in a more wooded area and here Bank Voles were order of the day. We evn got the opportunity to wrangle on from the trap, first time we'd done that since we were small mammal trapping in Israel in 1978, thankfully we didn't embarrass ourself. And the third tranch was again close to the saltmarsh and here a Common Shrew was captured. unfortunately it was getting rather hot and Monty was beginning to get uncomfortable so we had to leave the group to it with about 50 more traps to inspect.

With the recent good weather the moth trap has been out at Base Camp on a regular, almost nightly, basis but catches have been worryingly poor, mostly small numbers of Heart & Darts and Dark Arches with little else and hardly a micromoth seen apart from a few Chrysoteuchia culmellas.

Excitement hit unpercedented levels when we found this Pebble Hooktip in the trap - a species we've not recorded at Base Camp before.

The same trap held a corking Poplar Hawkmoth too - always a joy to see these gentle giants.

More excitement followed the next morning when we saw a small micro sat on the top of the egg boxes. Carefully we potted it up to discover after some searching through the field guide it was a Eucosoma campoliliana, another new species for Base Camp.

And the excitement didn't stop with the moths! While watching our bee hotel we saw a small skinny wasp that appeared to watching when the bees were coming and going and sure enough when it had seen a bee go in to a tube backwards to lay its egg and then leave it would sneak in to lay its own egg! This watching behaviour gaver us the chance to get a few decent pics and identify it as a Five-Spotted Club-Horned Wasp - no we'd never heard of it either but it transpired that according to the NBN Atlas this is the most northerly confirmed record in the country, beating the previous by a couple of miles!!! No doubt someone from a few miles up the road is going to say ah yes we get them in the garden all the time but hey-ho it's quite an accolade until such a thing happens!

A more or less empty moth trap the other morning had this rather beautiful but somewhat unwelcome visitor, a Candy Striped Spider. Needless to say it was evicted!

A family visit to the Southside at the weekend took us past Marshside RSPB reserve where a Glossy Ibis had been in residence for a couple of weeks or so. We had just five minutes to 'tick n run' and luckily it was out in the open and not too far away. It had its beak out but as soon as we put the camera to the screen window it tucked it away and promptly went to sleep. the chap next to us said "well that's that for an hour or so" so we had to make do with pic of it snoozing for our Photo Year List Challenge which now stands at 156.

Interesting that we've seen one here in three of the last four years, is it the same one? I don't think they breed in Britain yet but could be wrong, if they do it'll still only be in very small numbers or just a single pair in any one year. 

Recently we worked with our favourite school group, from the Midlands, on the beach and they had some super finds

A lump of pyroclasic flow, a Curved Razor and a Barnacle encrusted Mussel

Mermaid's Purse from a Thornback Ray

Striped Venus, Pod Razor, Common Otter Shell

Iceland Cyrpine, Pod Razor, Bean Razor, Tellins, Mussels, Banded Wedge Shells

But we hit the jackpot when we found this Limpet. Nothing special about Limpets you might say and you'd be right they can be as common as muck but not on Blackpool's coastline they're not. We'd had a quick look to check the lie of the land before the children arrived and been lucky enough to find Blackpool's only Limpet in it's usual place close to and now just south of where the old storm water pipe used to go out to sea. It's bee na while since we last found it and today it was in more or less the same place so we're assuming it is the same one and we couldn't find any just to the north of the storm water overflow where we've seen it before so we think it probably is the same one. 

But the one in the pic is a new one - a second individual and it was found 100 yards or more north of the other on the north side of the slipway, never seen one that side before...and that begs the question how many more are there???

With this pic we've just doubled the local Limpet population

Great days on safari and as often as not you don't have to go too far to see some awesome wildlife.

Where to next? The Big Butterfly Count has started and National Whale and Dolphin Watch starts next weekend so we're going to be busy - Watch this space - Better still Get Involved

In the meantime let us know who's watching who in your outback